New Year's Resolution

I consider myself a newbie when it comes to book blogging. I've been tweeting about my favorite YA books for about nine months now and only posting blog reviews for about four of those. So, yeah, pretty new.

One of the biggest problems for me is trying to figure out how to tackle the TBR pile, especially now that I receive ARCs, galleys, and review requests. Previously, I've been in the habit of always putting other people first. I receive a book for review...gotta read it now, even if that means putting a book I really want to read (and have already purchased) on hold. Now, this can't always be avoided. When I only have a week to read an ARC and I've committed to reviewing the book, it does have to be put towards the top. However, I'm starting to learn how important it is for me to read the books I want to read when I want to read them.

Sometimes, I'm just in the mood for a certain kind of book. When a different book is on the top of the TBR pile, I used to just read it. You know what? When I do that, the book is never as enjoyable as it could be and I'm not as in the mood to write that review. But, when I pick up a book I'm in the mood for, I tend to like that book even more than I might have otherwise. Aaaaand, the review practically writes itself. :)

Just like with anything else, it's good to take some ME-time. In the book blogging world, that's choosing what book to read, when I want to read it, because I want to. My New Year's Resolution is to do this more often. Sure, there will always be books I have to bump to the top. Can't change that. But, I can be more flexible on what my TBR pile looks like. This year, if I'm in the mood for book four in my pile and not book one, I'm gonna read book four. I'm gonna keep reading like crazy, but make sure I'm still reading for the fun of it and not for other people's supposed deadlines.

What kind of New Year's Resolutions have you made?

Don't Judge Me

We've all heard the old adage, Don't judge a book by its cover. I'd love to say I adhere to it one hundred percent. I really, really do.

But I don't.

I want to. I want to say, The cover is not a reflection of the author's work, so I won't even pay attention. 

But I don't.

Because the truth is, a cover has the power to pull me in or push me away. Let's take an example, shall we?

Beautiful, beautiful cover. I came across this while searching for something else on Amazon. I read the description. Meh. I wasn't really interested in fallen angels, but, oh man, the cover had me coming back a few days later. Maybe if I just read the prologue, I'll be into it. *read prologue through Amazon* Meh. I pretty much hate prologues anyway and this one didn't grab me. Again, I let it be. A week later I walked into a bookstore to buy something else. Holy crap this cover is even more beautiful in person! I rushed over to it willing to give it another chance. I read the first few pages of the first chapter. I wasn't hooked, but it was interesting. And I had to own this cover.

So I bought it.

That's right ladies and gentleman, the awesomeness of the cover led me back to the book again and again until I bought it. And you know what? I liked the book. A lot.

But, if it had a crappy cover, would I have given it as many chances? I'd like to say yes, but I'm not really sure.


Let's take another example:

Holy goodness this cover creeps me out. After reading the book, it's completely fitting, but absolutely creepy. I'm not always a fan of creepy.

Anyway, several twitter followers recommended this book to me. Highly recommended. One look at this cover and I thought, Really? You want me to read that? I set it aside in my mind for a few days. Then I looked at the recommendations again. *sigh* I read the description. Interesting. But the cover was still creepy. I put it on my library holds, still not sure if I'd read it. *book arrives* Cover is still. Freaking. Creepy. I put it at the bottom of my library TBR pile, thinking I'd get to it if I got to it.

Finally, finally, I read it. OMG it is amazing! One of the best books I've read. EVER! But, you know what? If I hadn't received so many awesome recommendations about this book, I never would've picked it up off the shelf. And the cover isn't even a bad cover. It's just not my choice.


So, book covers can definitely sway me. They aren't the be-all and end-all, but they carry some weight. And I know I'm not alone in this.

How important are book covers for you? Have you ever picked up a book or boycotted one solely on the cover?

Sex in YA Romance

Sex. It's a loaded topic no matter where you go, but it's definitely controversial in the realm of YA books. Now, I don't want to get into the usual points of whether or not it should be there. Teens have sex. Let's get over it. Having it in a YA book (or not) isn't advocating that everybody does (or doesn't) do it.

Personally, I don't care whether or not sex is in a YA book. Just like teens, sex will be right for some characters and not right for others. As long as the authors treat the topic with respect, I don't care what they choose. If they want their character to wait till marriage...fine. Some teens make that decision. If they want their characters to make mistakes and learn from them...that's fine too. Fall deeply in love and make informed decisions...great. Basically, I can support most forms of sexual choices in YA, including abstinence. All teens are different and I'm sure the different representations of sex will speak to different readers.

If I'm not here to harp on whether or not sex occurs, what the heck am I writing about? I'm writing about how quickly it happens.

I've recently read several YA books where the characters jumped from tame kissing to sex in two pages flat. Okay, that might be an exaggeration of page limit, but it's not an exaggeration of the action. There was one chaste kissing scene (or none at all) and then BAM! Sex time. And it wasn't an, "Oh my God, how did that happen so fast?" kind of a scene. It was a "I'm so deeply in love with you and wasn't it perfect?" kind of scene. Isn't there anything between kissing and sex?

Yes. The answer is YES!

Then why the heck aren't we reading about it? Aren't there other ways to feel satisfied that slowly builds up to sex? For me, reading about two characters falling in love, the build-up of their physical connection is just as important as the build-up of their emotional connection. You don't go from "Hello" to "I love you" without steps in between, so why should you go straight from kissing to sex?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying authors should get all graphic with the physical sexual stuff, but there's a way to write it that let's you know there's more going on without turning it into an explicit scene.

And yes, I get it that sometimes there's a good reason for this to happen. I'm not saying it should never happen. But it sure as heck does bug me when there doesn't seem to be a good reason for it.



So, am I alone with this pet peeve? Or does this speedy relationship building bother you too? Either way, go for it in the comments. I look forward to reading your opinions.